Lineage
by Abandon Structure
Summary: Liz is a witch, Michael is an alien, and Zan is an asshole. What lurks beyond the facades presented to the world is about to be revealed. Roswell/Covenant/Supernatural Crossover.
1. Prologue

Timeline: In my other fic, I altered the Roswellians ages. In this one, I'm going for the Covenants. So the Covenant guys were born around five years earlier than they were in the movies.

A/N: I've been on a crossover kick lately, especially with Roswell, the Covenant, and Supernatural. This is my second attempt at a crossover, so hopefully it turns out okay.

_June, 1998_

"Aliens?" Trish arched a disbelieving eyebrow at their surroundings.

"Shut up," Carmen muttered, so obviously sulking that Trish had to fight a grin.

"You're sure this is the place?" Sonny peered around the two of them, frowning in annoyance as Trish side-stepped to keep Sonny sandwiched between the two of them.

"I'm not five years old anymore – I don't need you playing protector."

"Who's playing?" Cassie's words were serious, as was her expression, drawing the three of them down from their banter.

"Way to kill the mood, Cee." Cee turned her gaze to Sonny, letting it rest there the briefest of moments, waiting until the other girl flushed and dropped her head to look away.

"How much time do we have?"

"Not long," Sonny answered, letting the sober mood take over.

Cee nodded her head, trusting Sonny's judgment on this. They all had areas of specialty – this was Sonny's.

Entering into the café was like taking a step back in time – old fashioned murals on the wall, done up in hokey colors and continuing the outdoor alien theme indoors.

The uniforms had even Cee drawing up short.

"Christ." Sonny grinned at Carmen's disgusted look, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she vibrated with excitement.

"This is so cool," she breathed, twisting her head around here and there to get the whole effect. She'd seen it a thousand times in her head, but seeing and experiencing were two different things and reality was so much better in this case.

"Retro," Trish agreed with a nod, earning her an eyeroll from Carmen.

Cee remained noncommittal, as always.

Carmen eyed her friend and considered asking her to go back out to the car for a little while, but if she sent Cee out, she'd have to send Trish as well. And she needed Trish here to help her with the new girl.

Sonny was too – just too much. She hit people like a bowling ball with facts and things they didn't want to know. It wasn't her fault she saw the things she saw, but nobody could figure out why she seemed completely unable to engage and brain to mouth filter on its contents.

And while Carmen liked to think she had a lot of redeeming qualities, she was kidding herself if she thought she was going to win any personality contests any time soon. Too blunt, too focused, just too much. Just like the rest of them.

"So what's this chicks name?" Trish asked, tapping her fingers against the tabletop as they waited for a waitress to serve them.

"Liz," Sonny bit out, giddy with excitement.

"Liz?" Trish cocked her head to the side.

"Hi," a pretty brunette in a turquoise dress with silver linings and antennas smiled widely as she expertly set down four water glasses in front of them. "I'm Liz, I'll be your waitress this evening. What would you like to drink?"

Carmen tilted her head back as she read the waitresses nametag.

"Parker, huh?" Carmen's lips tilted up at the corner in a near feral grin. "I knew a girl named Parker once."

* * *

"I don't believe you." Carmen leaned back against the edge of the balcony, arms crossed as she watched their latest recruit pace in front of them.

"I mean, magic? Powers? Me? Are you crazy?" Carmen rolled her eyes, reaching out with her mind and lifting one of the many candles that Liz had spread out across the area.

"Look, Bambi," Liz stopped her pacing to scowl at that, arms crossed as she glared, looking so cute and angry that Carmen couldn't fight her smile.

"Don't call me that."

"Then do something about your eyes. Change their color or make them smaller or something."

"I can't do that!" Liz snapped back. "It's impossible."

"Not impossible," Cee mentioned from where she was sitting, waiting until everybody's attention was on her before segueing seamlessly into the form of some blonde chick, waiting for Liz's telltale gasp of disbelief before transforming effortlessly back to her usual brunette glory.

"Well, for you, maybe," Trish conceded from where she stood, peering down over the balcony edge, keeping watch on their surroundings.

"So, what? I have magical powers but they may not be the same magical powers as everybody else?" There was an hysterical edge to her words that had Trish jerking her head around, studying the other girl for a moment before looking over at Carmen.

"We all have different abilities," Sonny broke in. The small elfin girl was standing a few feet away from Liz, her hands clenched into small fists as she struggled with the urge to wrap Liz in a hug.

This Liz wouldn't appreciate the gesture – it'd be several months, close to a year, before the Liz from Sonny's visions would evolve.

"No, no," Liz shook her head and backed away, hands held defensively in front of her as she glared at the whole of them. "I don't believe you."

"Sweetheart, we're transmogrifying and lifting things with our minds right in front of you. It's kind of hard not to believe," Trish hooked her leg over the edge of the balcony, sparing Liz the briefest of sardonic looks before refocusing on the ground below.

"Don't call me sweetheart," Liz snarled back, whirling in a cloud of silky black hair and glaring at them with everything she had.

"Whatever, cupcake," Carmen broke in, her new nickname for the brunette earning her another snarl as she pushed away from the wall and sauntered over to Trish.

"I doubt you have offensive powers," Carmen continued, turning to lean next to Trish.

"Oh, really? And how exactly have you arrived at that conclusion?" Liz had her fists clenched under her armpits as she scowled at the two brunette's.

"Simple, Bambi," Cee spoke casually from where she had sprawled on one of the lounge chairs. "If you had any offensive capabilities, one of us would be bleeding by now. Or worse."

"Bleeding?" Liz fidgeted nervously as she glanced around the whole group. "From what?"

"From you, kid," Carmen drawled. "Anybody with offensive capabilities would have sent any one of us flying into a wall by this point."

"Offensive capabilities? What are you talking about?"

"Some of us can attack people with our…abilities and some of us can't," Sonny broke in, quiet up until this point. "Like me, for instance."

"You?" Liz turned to face the quiet, unassuming blonde, blinking in confusion.

"I see things," Sonny supplied an answer to Liz's unspoken question, reaching up to tap her forehead with her right index finger. "In my head. Sometimes it's clear and sometimes it's not."

"So you're psychic?" Sonny grinned.

"Pretty much."

"And I am, too?" Liz sounded uncertain, which was only a shade better than angry.

"Well, have you been seeing things that aren't there lately?"

"No," Liz replied. "Well, I mean, aside from today and this whole thing." She made a sweeping hand gesture to the three other girls on the roof, one which Sonny followed with a wry smile.

"Yeah, they can come on pretty strong sometimes," Sonny smiled.

"Sometimes? Were they this bad with you?"

"I was born into this life," Sonny replied with a shrug of her shoulder, her smile drooping. "I've never known anything else."

"Oh." Liz was quiet for a long moment as she studied the blonde in front of her.

"So, what is this, exactly?" Liz gestured at the group again. "Why are all of you here? And what does it have to do with me?"

"We're here because three hundred years ago a very bad group of witches cast a very nasty spell on our line," Carmen sing-songed the words as she tapped her fingers against the brick wall she was leaning against.

"And?"

"And we've been hunted ever since."

"By what, exactly?"

"Demons, devils, ghosts…different cultures have different names. But they flock to us like freakin' dogs to a pork chop. And sometimes they eat us up and spit us back out, useless and broken."

"Carmen," Trish broke in, her eyes fixed on Liz's face. "Now is not the time for that particular lecture."

"Why not?" Carmen asked, twisting her head to look at Trish. "She's gonna figure it out sooner or later when the first spook shows up on her doorstep. Might as well warn the girl now."

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa!_" Liz had her hands up again as she whirled to face Carmen. "I did not sign up for anything yet. You can't include me in this little war of yours."

"Wrong," Cee spoke, gliding smoothly to her feet as she came over, each step decisive and firm, her entire presence intimidating as hell and making Liz shrink away from her.

"You're already a target, Bambi. You don't have a choice in the matter, it's in your blood."

"There's nothing in my blood!" Liz snapped defensively, ducking away as the other girl swept her hand out, grabbing Liz firmly by the front of her uniform.

"Wrong again, Bambi." Carmen was brash and wild, but Cee…

Cee scared the shit out Liz. She just vibrated at a truly terrifying frequency. Being around her was like being around everything their ancestors were scared of in the dark.

"They'll start with you, if you're really lucky. If you're not, the go after who you care for. Friends, family, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Boyfriends, husbands, lovers." Cee spoke in an eerie monotone, her expression completely focused on Liz's terrified eyes.

"And then when they're done with them, they go after you. They'll tear you apart from the inside out, destroy you to your very foundations until there's nothing left and then…" Cee exhaled harshly before inhaling with equal force. "If you're lucky, they'll kill you."

"That's lucky?" Liz managed to wheeze out around Cee's strangling grip.

"Yes," it was eerie how all four of them spoke as one, not even glancing at one another as they all looked off into different directions.

"You're not kidding," Liz licked dry lips as she gaped at them. "You're serious."

"Couldn't be more serious if we tried, cupcake," Carmen murmured, her faraway gaze snapping back to reality as she focused in on Liz.

"So, Bambi," she borrowed Cee's nickname. "You have two options here: train with us and have a vague hope of survival, or we can leave right now."

"You'd go?" Liz eyed them uncertainly. "After all this, you'd just leave?"

"If you wanted us to. But that ain't gonna make the bad shit disappear. Sooner or later, it's going to come knocking on your door, with or without us."

"Oh my God," Liz breathed, grabbing her hair in her hands as she stared out over the city of Roswell with a dry mouth and wide, frightened eyes.

"Hey," Sonny appeared in her line of sight with a slight smile and open arms. "It's going to be okay."

"How do you know that?" Liz asked, blinking once before turning her gaze towards the blonde. "How can anyone know that?"

"Psychic, remember," Sonny tapped her forehead again with a smile. "I see things. And I see you in the future with me and your family all around."

"Seriously?" Liz blinked at her. "You see that?"

"Yep." Sonny smiled again, but it was strained this time.

"But?" Sonny bit her bottom lip as she contemplated what to say next.

"But the future's always changing," she finally offered. "Right now, I see us, but one decision can change everything."

"So what decision do I need to make now?" Liz asked, sniffing as she stared at them with puffy, tear streaked eyes.

"The only one that's going to keep your family safe." Carmen replied for all of them.

Liz closed her eyes and let her breath out on a sigh.

"Then I guess I'm in."

End Note: I got lost trying to write the next chapter of Another World, so I finished this prologue. I was actually trying to write for Another World when this idea sort of popped up. If you're interested in more, tell me.


	2. Chapter 01

A/N: In Max and the City, Larek speaks as a representative of Antar and four other aliens come to represent the other worlds. Because I am completely lacking in creativity and do not feel like naming the planets, I just took the names of the other four aliens and made them the planets names' instead. Sue me. Oh, and Hella is some random Antarian diety made up for the sole purpose of creating an expletive.

Chapter One: I Healed an Alien

_September 23__rd_

_When Carmen and Sonny showed up in the diner with the other two and told me I was a witch, I thought my life had reached a whole new pinnacle of weird. Five days ago, things got a whole hell of a lot weirder._

* * *

"You know, I was thinking of getting hair extensions," Maria stated, pulling on the ends of her short hair as she leaned against the counter and waited for Liz to finish making the coffee.

"Why?" Liz asked, shoving the grounds in and hitting the on button before looking up at her friend. "I mean, just wait a few months and it'll grow back."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if I want to look like this for a few months. It was cute at first, but it's getting kind of old."

"What's getting old?" Sonny asked, prancing into the picture with a cheerful smile.

"My hair," Maria replied, smiling at the pixie-like blonde. When Sonny had first moved to Roswell and immediately befriended Liz, Maria had taken an instant liking to her. Unlike Carmen, her sister.

"Where's the Ice Queen today?" Maria asked, twisting her neck to peer around the café.

"Gone," Sonny replied, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet as she made a face. "Mom had a relapse, so Carmen went to go be with her for a while."

"That sucks," Maria wrinkled her nose in sympathy while Liz ducked her head, shooting Sonny a questioning look from under her eyelashes.

"Yeah, but she said she'll be back by next week and she sent Elsie up to stay for a while."

"Elsie's in town?" Maria straightened with a wide smile. "Did she bring…"

"Yes, Maria, she has her DVD collection," Sonny shook her head, her hair swooshing around her head in a blonde halo as she shot Maria an exasperated look. "I don't see what the big deal is…they're just movies."

"No, chica, they're _great _movies."

"But all you do is watch the musicals."

"Which are the greatest."

"Whatever," Sonny wrinkled her nose before turning her attention to Liz. "You helping me out with my geometry tonight?"

"Sure, what time?" Liz asked, pulling the freshly brewed coffee out and filling up the mugs Maria had placed in front of her.

"Eight-ish?" Sonny ventured carefully.

"Can we try more for seven thirty?" Liz asked, putting the coffee pot back.

"I'll talk to Elsie," Sonny replied as Maria ducked around them carrying her two coffee mugs.

"So where is Carmen, really?" Liz asked after doing a hasty sweep to make sure nobody was within hearing range.

Sonny murmured a few words under her breath, ensuring their absolute privacy, before raising her gaze to Liz.

"Los Angeles. Cassie's missing." Liz's gut clenched and her mouth went dry.

"How long?"

"She missed her last check-in and nobody's seen her for two weeks prior to that."

"But I didn't feel…"

"Yeah," Sonny agreed quickly. "Me neither, so she's still alive, but that's not necessarily a good thing."

Liz kept her silence on that – Carmen had taken her out a little over six months ago to show her what they were up against. The things she'd seen…she had a hard time believing that anything could be worse.

The usual hustle and bustle of the diner had been somewhat muffled by Sonny's spell, so when Liz heard Maria yelling, it was like being underwater.

Time seemed to move slower as Liz grabbed Sonny by the arm, pulling the petite blonde behind the counter and to safety as chaos seemed to erupt.

"Liz!" Maria yelled hysterically from where she was crotched on the ground, hands covering her head as the two men continued to wrestle for the gun.

"Maria!" Liz yelled back, peering out from behind the counter to get a glimpse of her friend.

"Liz!" Sonny yelped, pulling Liz back just as the first bullet went flying, splintering the wood right where Liz's head had just been.

Liz let out a short scream as splinters buried themselves into her skin, echoed by Maria's hysterical cries and the sound of another shot.

"Max!" A new voice yelled, drawing Liz's attention.

"Let's get out of here, man!" one of the gunmen was yelling, the sound of the door opening and closing punctuating his words and drawing Liz out from behind the counter.

The first thing she noticed was Maria, safe if not scared out of her mind, crouched on the floor.

The second thing she noticed was the boys.

There were two of them, a blonde and a brunette and she vaguely recognized from school.

The blonde was crouched over the brunette, shaking the other boy with a completely panic stricken expression on his face when the brunette's head simply rolled on his shoulders.

"Liz," Sonny murmured, grabbing for her friend and missing as Liz pushed out from behind the counter, scrambling over to where the two boys were.

"Move!" She demanded of the blonde, pushing him out of the way, his blood soaked hands scrambling at her clothing as he struggled.

"Let me see!" she insisted, giving him another shove as she peered down at the brunette.

_Max, _she remembered vaguely. His name was Max…Evans, she thought.

And the blonde was Michael, his best friend.

The two of them were covered in blood and it only took a second for Liz to find the source.

"Max," she spoke, voice low and soothing as she reached up with one hand to steady his rolling head, placing the other over the wound on his stomach.

"Max!" She insisted, shaking his head slightly, smiling tightly when his eyes opened to slight slits.

"That's good, Max. I need you to keep looking at me, okay?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Michael was back, shoving at her shoulder, smearing more blood into her uniform as she struggled to push him back.

"Hey!" She snapped, releasing Max to whirl on him. "Back off! I'm trying to help!"

She didn't wait for his response, turning her attention back to Max who was still staring at her from underneath his eyelashes.

"Good Max," she soothed him, running a hand across his forehead. "You're doing good. Now I just need you to keep looking at me."

Her hand hovered over his wound and she took one deep breath, closing her eyes as she centered herself, before opening them and pushing outward with the energy.

Healers were rare enough and precious enough that Carmen had kept her pretty much under lock and key. She'd visited one or two other ones, but most of what she learned was touch and go practice.

She'd healed broken bones, bruises, and basic flesh wounds, but bullets?

Most of what they dealt with didn't use weapons so mundane.

She didn't know if it was the bullet or something else, but trying to heal Max was like have the flesh ripped from her bones. Sharp, brutal pain traveled through her body, arching her back and forcing a gasp from her throat as she released his head with one hand, clawing out at the side of the booth in an effort to stay focused.

Green sparks ignited over his skin, flashing over his fingers and down his abdomen to shock themselves against the bare flesh of her palm, but it was one pain in many.

"Max," she grunted, her eyes rolling back and her body slumping forward as she felt the bullet disintegrate. Breathing heavy and leaning against him, with hand flat on his abs, she used the last of her energies to knit the flesh beneath her fingers before slumping forward.

"What the – " she could hear Michael protesting as hands were suddenly there, lifting her listless body.

Somebody snapped something at him and Liz managed to pry her eyes open to get a glimpse of blonde hair as Sonny pushed her way past whoever was holding her to lean over a slowly straightening Max Evans.

"You're okay now," she heard Sonny saying around the screaming fog in her head. There was the sound of glass breaking and then Sonny was talking again. "The bullet hit the ketchup bottle. You were surprised by the splatter and hit your head. Don't say anything else."

_Bossy_, Liz found her lips curling up slightly as whoever was holding her gently set her down on her feet, supporting her nearly limp body with half a grunt.

"Come on, Parker," Elsie's familiar voice sounded in her ear. "Don't make me do all the work."

"Else?" Liz murmured with a groan, head rolling on her neck until it rested against a solid shoulder. "It hurts."

"I know, sugar," the southern girl drawled sympathetically. "But I need you to be awake for this."

A sudden jolt of energy had Liz letting out a startled yelp as every cell in her body suddenly woke up not even bothering to shake off the drowsy haze she'd been engulfed in.

It was a toss up which hurt more – using, or having a shitload of power zapped into her.

"Motherfu-" Liz started, only to cut herself off when Maria was suddenly in front of her.

"Are you okay? Did you get splinters in your eyes? Can you see me? Are you blind? Talk to me, Liz!"

"Maria!" Liz pushed the other girl back with a strained smile as she glanced over at Elsie. "I'm fine."

"You're sure?" Maria had her by the shoulders, but she wasn't shaking her, for which Liz was eternally grateful. She had what felt like a thousand bees buzzing in her head, she didn't need to hear anything else rattling around.

"Yes, Maria, I'm fine. No splinters, see?" She stepped back to give Maria the full effect and nearly buckled under the sound of Maria's scream.

"Oh my God, Liz, you're covered in blood!"

"What?" Liz glanced down at herself and swore, her gaze jerking over to Elsie, who was shaking her head and mumbling under her breath as she jerked her own gaze over to Sonny.

"It's not blood, Maria," Sonny interjected smoothly as she came up behind them. "It's ketchup, see?"

She swiped her finger through the mess on the counter, holding it up for inspection.

"Oh thank God," Maria was babbling again, going off about something or other, but Liz was already tuning her out, her attention going to where Michael sat with a hand firmly clasped on Max's shoulder, the two of them regarding her with no small mixture of worry and confusion.

_Well, right back at ya, _Liz thought, suddenly nervous and unwilling to glance back at Elsie.

She wasn't supposed to use her powers like that, so publicly and on people she didn't know.

She was damned lucky Sonny was here to put up a shield between her and the rest of the diner while she did her thing. Without that shield, it wouldn't have been just her, Max, and Michael witnessing the healing; it would have been everybody.

She had Elsie to thank, too, belatedly, to the time lull. One of the line's Protectors, Elsie would manipulate time in small spurts so that it sped up or slowed down.

She'd obviously gotten there a few seconds after Liz had reached the two boys, too late to stop the healing, but just in time to prevent people from noticing that suddenly three people were just missing out of thin air and to give Liz time to get back behind the counter so it looked like she'd never left.

_Cover your tracks, _was one of the things Carmen was always telling them. _We look for weird things to find our enemies, and our enemies look for weird things to find us. _

Leaning against the counter as Elsie's energy boost started to wear off, Liz found herself fixated on the two boys who were eyeing her right back.

_Weird things, _she shifted uncomfortably, dropping her gaze away from Max Evans as Sheriff Valenti entered the diner.

At this point, she had the distinctive feeling that she wasn't the weirdest thing in Roswell, none of the witches were, not by a long shot.

By the time Sheriff Valenti had finished recording their statements, Liz was half-dead on her feet and it took both Sonny and Elsie to get her up the stairs and into her room.

"Carmen's going to kill you," Elsie was muttering as she stripped Liz's bloodstained clothing from her exhausted body.

"Wait a few," Liz grunted as she rolled over onto her stomach and curled up around her pillow. "I might have already done the job for her."

Elsie snorted and that was the last sound Liz heard before she slipped into a dream world.

* * *

I'm dreaming_, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time as she watched the people moving around her._

_It was, by far, one of the weirdest dreams she'd ever had, even weirder than the magic-induced ones that flared up on occasion._

_For one thing, she was tall. Like, really tall. For another, her skin was an ashy grey, her fingers were several inches longer than they should have been, and though she had yet to physically check, she was pretty sure she was no longer a girl._

_Hell, she wasn't even human._

Just a dream_, she reminded herself, flinching as one of the milling people detached himself from the crowd to come stand next to her…him…the body she was currently occupying._

"_Kivar has taken over Sero," the new guy was reporting, his style of dress and the odd looking weapon by his side leaving Liz with the distinct impression that he was some sort of soldier. _

"_Already?" It was with a start that she realized the words were coming from her mouth._

"_Intelligence says he had help, traitors on the inside." The other man's lips thinned in obvious frustration as he looked over at…Liz._

"_No, Rath," her body was saying. "Nobody here would betray us."_

"_Not even the Kathanians?"_

_Kathana, the smallest planet within their system._

_Planet? _

_Liz let her confusion slide to the side as she focused the other man – Rath._

"_Zan," Rath protested, hand tapping the weapon by his side as he took in their surroundings. "It isn't safe to make that assumption."_

"_And you think it's safe to disrupt these people's lives even more than they already have been? They're refugees, for Hella's sake." _

_Rath's clenched jaw was answer enough._

"_I won't allow it, Rath. Morale is important and implying that I don't trust them can cost us more than just their loyalty."_

"_And blind trust can cost you more than an alliance," Rath shot back, clearly worried and equally obviously upset with the emotional display._

"_Do your job, Rath," Zan insisted with a tired sigh, reaching up to rub the side of his face with one long-fingered hand. "And I'll do mine."_

"_How am I supposed to do my job when you won't listen to me?" Rath asked sourly with obvious exasperation and Liz could feel the corners of her…lips?...twitching upwards._

"_I listen to you," Zan replied wryly. "I just don't obey you."_

"_Because you're the king and I'm the general," Rath replied with an eyeroll and Liz could feel her lips rising further at the obvious display of disrespect._

"_Exactly."_

"_Zan!" a new voice broke in, drawing his attention away from Rath, his smile softening as he caught sight of the white haired beauty making her way towards him._

_Liz could feel the heart in Zan's chest thumping an irregular rhythm as the smaller form gazed at him with eyes full of adoration._

"_Ava," he breathed, suddenly longing and wishing he was elsewhere with his wife so they could…_

* * *

Her eyes snapped open and her breathing was, much to her embarrassment, less than even as she raised her arms to run her hands through her hair.

"Just a dream," she reminded herself, torn between blind hope and the sinking knowledge that whatever had just happened had, at some point, really happened.

Just not to her.

Turning her head, she spotted Elsie's familiar blonde hair and exhaled another shaky breath.

"Oh, God," she moaned, pressing the palms of her hands over her closed eyes. "What did I do?"

A/N: This is odd, for me. Usually my chapters are a lot longer, but I just needed to end this here. I'm trying to book it through this and Another World, so one or the other will probably be updated this weekend. If you want it to be this one, leave a review, please.


	3. Chapter 02

A/N: I've been sick all day with a nice temperature and enough mucus to fill an Olympic size pool. Rather than wallowing in self-pity (well, any more than I already have), I decided to work on this chapter. Enjoy and review, please!

Chapter 02: Visions of Aliens In My Head

"Juice?"

Liz waved off Sonny's offer, tilting her head back to let it rest against the wall as she stared up at the early morning Roswell sky.

"Carmen's going to kill me," she murmured with a heartfelt groan.

"Doubtful," Elsie replied, climbing out of Liz's window, carefully balancing her bowl of cereal as she did so.

"You're the one who said it last night," Liz replied, irritated with life in general and not hesitating to take it out on the easy going witch.

"I lied," Elsie replied, scooping up a spoonful of Cookie Crisp and crunching down with no small amount of enthusiasm.

"She won't kill you," Elsie continued, settling herself on top of the brick half-wall surrounding the balcony. "But she's gonna make you wish you were dead before this is over with."

Liz said nothing, pressing her hands over her eyes again as she let out a heartfelt groan.

She knew Carmen was in charge of keeping her safe, but she'd learned early on that safe rarely ever meant happy. Safe usually meant miserable and alert in Carmen's book.

"Come on, Bambi," Elsie gave Liz's chaise a bumping kick as she passed her a few long silence filled minutes later. "It's time for school."

* * *

"Elsie!" Isabel Evans greeted the other blonde with a wide smile of delight. "I didn't know you were going to be in town!"

"Surprise! It's good to see you again, Isabel," Elsie grinned as she gave the much taller blonde a hug.

Liz stayed away from the two of them, ducking her head at the sight of Max Evans sister and quickly grabbing her books for class before hastily making an exit towards her first class of the day.

It wasn't until she got there that she realized, with a sinking feeling in her gut, that Max Evans was in the class with her.

"It'll be okay," Sonny murmured quietly as she slid onto the lab stool next to her.

"Yeah," Liz snorted, setting her books on top of the table. "Because I didn't do something reckless and stupid that revealed our secrets to a complete stranger who may or may not decide to go to the authorities and set off our enemies 'weird' radar, causing us a whole shitload of problems."

Sonny winced at that. Liz Parker swearing was never a good thing.

The door opened before she could say anything else and Liz swore again, ducking her head and prompting Sonny to twist slightly to see who it was.

Max Evans paused at the back of the classroom, his eyes locked on Liz, a small frown on his face. Behind him in the hall outside, Michael Guerin was also watching Liz, his expression unreadable.

Liz had her head down and her shoulders hunched under their collective gaze and Sonny found herself frowning as she turned her attention back to her friend.

"We should talk to them," she insisted, causing Liz to jerk her head around in surprise.

"Are you kidding me?" Liz blinked. "We should forget this ever happened. _They _should forget this ever happened."

"Well, somebody needs to tell them that," Sonny pointed out reasonably enough.

"Fine," Liz stated, angrily yanking her notebook out of the pile in front of her and roughly flipping to the first blank page. "You do it."

* * *

"Hey, Elsie," somebody called out from the crowded quad, earning themselves a smile and a wave from the much loved blonde as she slid into the seat across from Liz.

"Okay, so, Isabel Evans has no idea what happened the other day," Elsie reported, setting her tray down and picking up her fork. "So that means Max and Michael are keeping their mouths shut, which is good."

"Great," Liz muttered, still stuck in her frustrated tension. "Fantastic."

"It's what you wanted, isn't it?" Sonny asked, setting her tray down next to Liz's. "You should be happy."

"I'm working on it," Liz replied, reaching over her tray to take a sip of her drink.

"Well, work harder," Elsie stated, her gaze fixated on someone behind Liz. "Because Maria and Alex are on their way over."

"Elsie!" Maria greeted the girl with a wide smile, prancing around the table to give Elsie a giant hug.

"Hey, Maria, Alex," Elsie smiled as the other girl took a seat next to her. "What's up?"

"Hey Elsie," Alex managed to get out before Maria launched into some melodramatic monologue about her hair and the latest Hollywood disaster in the making.

"Hey Alex," Sonny perked up in the presence of the gangly teen, her sunny disposition coming out full force.

"Hey, Sonny," Alex greeted the girl with a slight smile before turning his attention to Liz.

"Liz," he greeted, frowning when the brunette didn't bother to look up from her yogurt, offering him a non-committal noise as greeting.

"Wow, you're sounding very…chipper today. Something in the water?" Alex made a show of poking at Liz's cup.

"She's just upset about the shooting yesterday," Sonny jumped into the conversation, smiling slightly when Alex's gaze jumped to her.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that. Nobody was hurt, right?"

"Right," Sonny nodded. "Just a couple of bullets and a few really shaken up people."

"Right," Alex gave Sonny another slight smile before reaching over to place a hand on Liz's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Liz asked, raising her gaze and blinking in surprise at finding Alex next to her.

"Liz, if you need anybody to talk to, know that I'm here for you." He squeezed her shoulder in emphasis and Liz found her lips curling upwards.

"Thanks, Alex. You're a great friend."

"The best," Alex agreed tilting his chin up in marked superiority, laughing when Liz gave him a solid punch to the shoulder in response.

* * *

"We need to talk."

The last thing Liz expected was for Max Evans to latch onto her arm in the middle of the hallway.

"How about no," Liz started to turn away only to have his grip tighten.

"How about now." There was something solid, unyielding about his expression, making it obvious that 'no' was no longer in his vocabulary at this moment that had Liz slowly nodding her head.

"Alright. Fine. Let's go to the bandroom, it should be empty right now."

"Fine."

He let his hand slide from her arm, expression troubled as they maneuvered their way through the masses until they reached their destination.

Letting Max enter first, Liz shut the door behind her, placing a hand over the lock and muttering a quick spell, the same one Sonny used the other day, to ensure their privacy.

"Okay, so we're here," Liz turned to face him, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned unhappily against the door. "What now?"

"What did you do?" Max asked, standing in the middle of the room and staring at her with those clearly upset eyes.

Liz didn't say anything in response, just watching him as she tried to think of a reasonable explanation to get herself out of this mess she'd so handily gotten herself into.

"The other day, at the Crashdown…I was shot, I was dying, and you…you healed me." Max cocked his head to the side, slicing his hand forward forcefully as he frowned again, so obviously confused and puzzled that Liz bit her bottom lip and let her head thunk back against the door.

"You put your hand over my stomach and healed me. How, Liz? How did you do that?"

Liz sighed, her head coming forward as Max continued onward, pacing towards her as he spoke.

"Who are you? What are you? And what the hell did you do to me?"

"Uh, healed you?" Liz blinked up at him, annoyed by his questions. "I thought we already established that."

"Then what the hell is this?"

He lifted his shirt and Liz had a moment of panic as she wondered – why the hell was he doing that? – until she saw the mark.

It was strangely familiar only in the sense that she got the distinct impression that she should know it but she didn't.

A circle with two zig-zag lines in the middle and squiggles in four spaces that struck her as suddenly very important.

"What the hell is that?" She repeated Max's question, reaching out with her hand to touch it, her fingers brushing ever so lightly against it before the room suddenly disappeared.

* * *

"Have you seen Maxwell?" Michael sat on the table, his feet on the bench, as he talked to Isabel, his gaze scanning the quad. He, Max, and Isabel had the second lunch period and he usually met them here or was already here by the time Michael arrived.

"He said something about talking to someone about a bio project," Isabel answered, distracted as she carefully checked her make-up in her hand-held compact. "Why? Did you have something important to talk to him about?"

"No, nothing big. It can wait." Michael gave Isabel a flash of a smile, his gaze scanning the quad once more, fingers tapping a nervous rhythm on his thigh as he did so.

Isabel didn't know any more about the shooting at the Crashdown than any average person did and neither Michael nor Max were going to tell her otherwise until they themselves figured out what was going on.

And Max was supposed to be here right now, so he and Michael could do just that.

So where the hell was he?

* * *

_The water is red, thick, like jello almost, but his long limbs make it easy to navigate through._

_It had been a restless day, with one thing after another coming to his attention, small details he didn't want to consider but couldn't quite put aside._

"_You're think again, your majesty," the raspy voice is filled with amusement and he turned his head to find his friend grinning at him. "I thought I told you to stop that."_

"_You make it sound so easy, Larek," he sighed, flipping over onto his back to float, the sun burning bright overhead while the moons hung like ornaments in the sky._

"_It should be," Larek replied, echoing his posture with a heartfelt sigh. "Contrary to your belief, the weight of world does not fall on your shoulders."_

"_Not yet," he couldn't quite keep the grim note out of his voice, prompting Larek to twist his head to look at him._

"_Your father is well, your mother, too. The people are happy and there is peace between the worlds."_

"_A shaky peace, at best," he interrupted, frowning now. "The Hanarians are growing restless. Gath's power on the throne is weak, at best. His father was a despot and his mother was a whore; if it weren't for the seal, he wouldn't even have the throne."_

"_But he does, and they can't get rid of him, not without an heir."_

"_There's rumors they've found another, a stranger among the lesser nobility." That caught Larek's attention._

"_I thought King Eran erased all indirect lineage centuries ago." His lips twisted up in a sardonic grin._

"_I guess he missed one."_

"_And the stranger? Do we know his name?"_

"_The Hanarians don't even know his name. They're calling him 'Kivar'." _

_Kivar…King._

"_How ambitious of them." But Larek was frowning now._

"_We haven't had a Kivar since before the Age of Progress."_

"_And we haven't had one since," he agreed._

_Larek was quiet, his worry leaching into the air, as poignant as his sister's perfume in essence._

"_If there is war," Larek finally stated into the silence, "I will do my best to ensure my father follows you."_

"_Your father hates Antar," he pointed out. _

"_Yes, but he loves me, and so do the people. If I have to, I will move myself into your palace to ensure your safety."_

_He frowned at that, opening his eyes and twisting his head to look at his friend._

"_I would not have you placing yourself in danger to aid me," he insisted, the sharp tang of his anger replacing the acrid odor of Larek's fear._

"_Zan," Larek spoke frankly, dropping his title as he lowered himself upright into the water. "I love you like a brother, and with that love, I will do everything in my power to protect you, even if it goes against your wishes."_

_He fought with his emotions, wrestling with his anger at Larek's refusal to listen and his relief for the same, and his love for a man he viewed as family until he managed a small smile of exasperation._

"_You sound like Rath," he stated dryly._

"_Your General is a wise man," Larek stated solemnly before smiling a crooked smile. "A bit stuffy, but wise."_

"_You've never seen him at the Raisa," he replied, his voice deepening slightly at the thought of the yearly party thrown for unmated males and females of the planets._

"_I didn't know he attended," Larek's voice was filled with genuine surprise before a wry smile took over his face. "But somehow, I am not surprised that I have not seen him there. He does not strike me as a patient man prone to open displays."_

_He fought a snort at that; Rath was open to many things, but he was one of the most fiercely focused men he had ever encountered. He threw himself into whatever he was doing with every fiber of his being and when he was done, he didn't reminisce but rather moved on, throwing himself fully into his next task._

"_And how is your sister today, my prince?" He fought a smile at Larek's complete lack of effort to hide his interest._

"_Vilondra is well, and far away from here right now."_

"_Oh?" Larek's brow arched as he smiled widely at him. "And why is that?"_

_He snorted._

"_Don't flatter yourself, Larek. It's not any reflection of your presence – she and mother went to Sero for a summit last week."_

"_Your mother took Vilondra to a summit?" There was an incredulous note of disbelief that had him frowning._

"_What's wrong with that?" _

"_Nothing," Larek stated, recovering himself nicely. "I was just surprised. Elona's name-day is two moons from now and Vilondra promised to be there."_

"_And she will be," he promised, knowing that when his sister made a promise she never broke it._

_They quieted, then, the two of them stroking through the water quietly, letting the day float around them much like the water._

"_Zan," Larek interrupted the silence, his focus on the shore, prompting him to turn his head and sigh. They had attracted a crowd of people, some undoubtedly sent by his father, others there out of either curiosity or some other purpose they would make known when he stepped on the shore._

"_We could always swim for Dimara's rock," Larek pointed out with a faint smile. "My home is just beyond it and you'll have privacy there."_

"_My father would never allow it," he pointed out, nevertheless turning wistfully towards the rock and promptly losing his breath._

_She was beautiful, dressed in loose flowing white, with luminescent skin, and hair that floated around her face like a halo. She was sitting on the edge of the rock, her legs dangling over it, her head tilted back and her expression one of pure bliss as the winds gently, almost reverently, smoothed her hair beyond her face._

"_Beautiful, isn't she?" Larek's knowing voice interrupted him, drawing him back and, with no small amount of embarrassment, he realized he was flushed, his breathing erratic and the air filled with the sweet scent of his lust._

_He pulled his emotions back into himself, tight lipped and refusing to acknowledge the slip even as Larek's laughter boomed over the sea._

_His laughter echoed, drawing the attention of the nymph above them, her eyes opening and fixating on them, delivering yet another blow he could no more prepare against than time itself._

"_Her name is Avana," Larek murmured teasingly as he waved at her from the water. A light smile graced her lips as she raised her arm and returned the gesture, giving his companion a curious look as she let her head fall to the side._

"_Come on," Larek insisted, touching his arm and pulling him towards Dimara's rock. "I'll introduce you to her."_

"_No!" He was appalled at how vehemently the word escaped him. "That won't be necessary."_

"_Are you going to introduce yourself, then?" Larek was laughing at him, a direct affront to his pride, eliciting a scowl in response as he turned and began the swim for the shore._

"_Zan! Zan!" Larek called after him, catching up with him shortly to pull on his arm yet again._

"_You will not interfere in this," he stated when he could no longer ignore Larek's hand, coming to a stop as he treaded in place, glaring at one of his oldest friends._

"_Zan," Larek's voice was apologetic but firm. "You need to socialize more."_

"_I'm Prince and heir to the High Throne," he pointed out dryly. "I socialize every day."_

"_For fun!" Larek called out after him as he headed back towards the shore. "For fun, my prince!"_

_He shut the sound of his friends voice out of his head as he drew nearer to the shore, picking out familiar from unfamiliar faces as he emerged from the sea._

"_Prince Zan," Jacin was his father's messenger. She was bright, eager to please, and very good at ensuring her job was done even with the stubborn individuals who made up the Councils._

"_Jacin," he greeted with a sigh. "What's does my father want done today?"_

* * *

She woke up with a headache and a streak of drool running down her chin and onto Max's chest.

It took her a second to focus her eyes and reorient herself and used that time to gain an upright sitting position and study the unconscious boy next to her.

This was the second dream she'd had about a person named Zan and, again, it was the second time she'd had a dream after touching Max Evans.

Randomly losing consciousness in the middle of a bandroom…that was new.

And unpleasant.

The desire to be anywhere else warred with her inborn manners and morals – as much as she'd love to leave, she couldn't, in good conscience, simply abandon an unconscious Max.

With a tired sigh, she rolled over onto her knees, leaning over Max and giving him a gentle shake.

"Hey, Evans," she murmured none too patiently. "Wake up, you girl. Passing out like this is just not manly, you know?"

His eyelashes fluttered slightly and she let out a heartfelt sigh of relief.

"So you're not dead," she greeted as he opened his eyes and blinked blearily up at her.

"What happened?" He asked, licking dry lips and blinking up at her from his prone position on the floor.

"You – we – fainted, I guess," Liz replied, turning to sit on her butt next to him, raising one hand to rub lightly at her temples in an effort to ease the pounding in her skull.

"Fainted?" Max pushed himself into an upright sitting position, sparing her a brief glance before wincing at his own pains.

"Passed out, lost consciousness, took an unexpected nap in the middle of a conversation…take your pick." Max shot her an annoyed look, which was about on par with how she was currently feeling – extremely annoyed.

And a little freaked out.

"So, uh," she started, fixing her gaze on the bandroom door as she struggled to find something to say.

"Who's Zan?" Max asked suddenly, startling out of her thought processes as she turned her head and blinked at him.

"Zan?" She repeated dumbly.

"That dream…the other guy, his name was Larek and my – our – name was Zan. Do you have any idea who that is?"

Liz was already shaking her head before he finished his sentence.

"No idea," she replied with complete honesty. "Never heard of him before."

_Except for yesterday…_

But no way was she bringing that up – not here and not now, especially when all she really wanted was to leave.

There were times and places for attempts at revelations and the middle of West Roswell High School was most definitely not one of them.

"So, listen," Liz started, keeping her gaze on the wall as she spoke. "About the day of the shooting…"

"You healed me," Max stated.

"Yes," Liz replied with a sigh, turning her head slightly to look at him, suddenly exhausted. "But you can't tell anybody."

"Why?" Max asked, his gaze unyielding as he pressed her for an answer.

"Because it's dangerous," Liz replied, getting to her feet and reaching for her backpack. "There are people out there who want to hurt me and if you start talking, you'll lead them straight to us."

"Us?" Liz made a small sound of annoyance in the back of her throat as she shouldered her backpack before gesturing to Max and then back to herself.

"You and me. I healed you and gave you a lot of my energy to do it. It changed you enough to make you noticeable to them."

"Who's them?" Max was on his feet in front of her, belligerent expression in place.

"Bad people, Max," was all she said, turning from him and reaching for the door before he could say anything else.

"Just…really bad people who won't hesitate to hurt you and anyone you care about if you start talking."

"Is that a threat?" Anger now colored his words, and she sighed as she let her head lean against the door for a moment before turning to look at him once more.

"No, Max," she sighed, pushing the door open and walking through. "It's a promise."

She exited, leaving an angry boy in her wake only to be greeted by an angry girl in front of her.

"Liz," Elsie tilted her head backwards as she stood against the wall opposite the bandroom.

"Else," Liz greeted the older girl cautiously as she took in the slow moving people.

"Would you mind explaining to me why Sonny dragged me out of my English Lit class because suddenly, and without warning, the bandroom door mysteriously vanished?"

Liz opened her mouth, flushing at the implications of Elsie's statement, before closing it and dropping her gaze.

"I'm sorry," she stated finally, rubbing the side of her head again as the headache pounding beneath her skull seemed to intensify to the point of near all-consuming pain.

"Sorry isn't good enough, Elizabeth," Elsie snapped, reaching forward to roughly grab the other girl by her arm, turning and directing her down the hall. "Not by a long shot."

Long shot, short shot, any type of shot – it didn't matter as time snapped back into place and Liz lost the battle with the pounding in her skull.

"Liz!" She heard someone yell right before her eyes rolled up and she lost consciousness for the second time today.

A/N: So…I actually thought I'd like Another World better, but the more I write of Lineage, the more I partial I am to it. Hopefully I'll have another chapter up tomorrow. Until then…review, please.


	4. Chapter 03

Chapter 03: Keep 'Em Separated

"_Look, I don't know who you are or what you want, but you have got to stop doing this!" Liz glared at her surroundings, hands in hair as she turned left and right trying to locate the source of her sudden apparent disability to stay in her own reality._

"_First times a fluke, second times an accident, and third time is intentional, buddy!" She was shouting at nothing, but there was definitely somebody out there. She could freakin' feel their eyes burning holes on the back of her neck._

"_Ahane du sre?" Liz whirled towards the voice, blinking as nothing but smooth, green stone greeted her eyes._

"_What the hell did you just say? Who the hell are you? _Where _the hell am I? _What's going on?_" She practically yelled the last bit she was so freakin' frustrated and angry and scared. She kept turning, expecting the owner of the eyes to be standing behind her, but whomever was there was doing a pretty damn good job of not actually being there._

"_Jice we ruma iol."_

"_English, buddy!" she yelled, turning and letting out a frustrated snarl when she was once again glaring at nothing._

"_English?" The voice segued seamlessly from whatever mumbo-jumbo he'd been sprouting, accenting the one word perfectly with just the vaguest hint of an exotic tang._

"_Yeah, you know, the nearly universal language on Earth? Right after Chinese, but that doesn't count. Just because you contain one sixth of the worlds population doesn't mean everybody else needs to speak it, especially when the US is totally bigger than China." She was blathering. She never really understood what it meant to blather until this moment, but still, she was pretty sure she didn't like it._

"_Earth," the voice sounded more than a little confused, with just a hint of disgusted disbelief. "I'm on Earth?"_

_It was completely pointless to turn towards the voice, but Liz did it anyway and very nearly swallowed her tongue as a result._

"_Ulgh," she managed to get tilting her head back as she stared up at the incredibly tall…man. Alien. Thing._

"_What the hell are you?"_

_The male's mouth tilted slightly and it took her a moment to realize he was grimacing at her._

"_Humans," he breathed with the barest hint of amusement. "I'd forgotten what you were like."_

"_Yeah, and I'm pretty sure you've gotten to know us real well through all your alien abductions." She'd been shooting for sarcastic, but got lost somewhere around the turn for hostile, pressing pedal to the metal as she glared up at him._

"_It's only an abduction if you keep them," he replied, frowning down at her now. "And what are you doing here?"_

"_Gee, that's comforting," Liz replied, dryly addressing his first statement before blinking wide brown eyes up at him in panicked disbelief. "Wait – you mean you don't know what I'm doing here?"_

"_I believe I made that clear already," he snorted as he walked past her. "Humans."_

"_Hey!" Liz turned to face his back, hands on hips as she continued to glare. "Watch it, buddy."_

"_My name is Zan," he shot over his shoulder, pairing it with a look of such utter derision and superiority she was literally grinding her teeth to keep herself from going after him. "Not 'Buddy.'"_

"_Whatever, _Zan_," Liz shot back, cutting her next reply short as a few key things clicked into place._

"_Wait a second – Zan? As in Larek's Zan? As in the guy who talks to Rath and is love with some chick named Ava?"_

"_Ava?" Zan turned so fast it made her head spin, his hands gripping her arms as he lifted her clear off the floor, ignoring her surprised yelp as he stared, frantic-eyed at her._

"_Is she alive? What have you done with her? Where is – _AHH!"

_Liz hit the ground, bending her knees to absorb the impact just like Carmen had taught her, glaring up at Zan who was glaring down with just the barest hints of respect coloring his expression, nearly overwhelmed by a large helping of pain-induced anger as he visibly struggled with the urge to cup his injured knee close._

_She'd been aiming for his shin originally, but he was too tall for her to really be able to get effective leverage. So she'd wanted to go for his groin, but she wasn't even sure where his groin was. Sure, he was bipedal and vaguely humanoid in form, at least from what she could tell with his clothes on, but hell, he _was _an alien…at least, she was pretty sure he was…_

"_You're not from around here, are you?" She asked, forgoing a lecture on the proper way to handle a girl as she struggled with this new problem on her plate._

Aliens.

Aliens _for God's sake._

Like my life wasn't complicated enough, _she thought._

_First magic, then demons, and now aliens._

_What was next? The freakin' Apocalypse?_

_Maybe instead of demons, it was supposed to be the Alien Apocalypse. Maybe she was currently holding court with the Harbinger of Doom._

_Only she was pretty sure a Harbinger wouldn't have taken a booted foot to the kneecap without immediate retaliation. And though Zan was quite obviously angry, he didn't _look _particularly apocalyptic._

_Of course, looks could be deceiving. Take herself, for instance. It was highly unlikely that anyone in Roswell looked at her and thought '_Hey, I wonder if Liz Parker is a witch?'

_Anything was possible._

"_You're not trying to destroy the planet, are you?"_

"_I wasn't planning on it," Zan replied, straightening from his slight crouch to glare down at her once more. "But give it a few metes and I might reconsider."_

"_Metes?" Liz pronounced it like 'mitts' and judging from his expression, it wasn't quite right, but like hell she cared._

"_Days," Zan corrected himself. "I meant days."_

_Liz said nothing, arching an eyebrow as she tried to come up with a logical thought to throw into the ring and try and figure out what the hell was going on here._

"_Do you know where Ava is?" Zan ventured after a moment, expression guarded and unreadable beyond that as he stared over at her._

"_I know who she is," Liz replied. "I think. Your girlfriend?"_

"_My wife," Zan corrected. "Or she was going to be." He frowned. "I can't remember."_

"_That's never a good sign," Liz noted dryly, sighing as he shot her an irritated look._

"_Okay, uncalled for, yes. I'm sorry, but this whole thing…" she waved at their surroundings._

"_Hergar," Zan murmured, his eyes lighting up as he took in their surroundings with a sort of awed wonder. _

"_So you know where we are?"_

"_Hergar," Zan repeated, reaching out to touch the nearest wall, his eyes rolling backwards in his head as his lips tilted upward in a hauntingly sweet smile. "Home."_

_He practically breathed the word and it was so chalked full of longing that Liz had to avert her gaze, letting it drop the floor as she gave a quick nod._

"_Right, so, I'm on an alien planet. Fantastic." She turned her head in the opposite direction of Zan, craning to peer out one of the many arched doorways and frowning when all she saw was darkness._

"_But it doesn't make sense," Zan was saying somewhere behind her as she stepped forward. "Hergar was destroyed in the first attack. Kivar made sure of that."_

"_Kivar?" The name tickled a memory in the back of Liz's head and she recalled the name from one of her previous 'visions' with an extremely emotional flash of hatred that damn near took her breath away._

"_Kivar." If Liz had thought that Zan sounded disgusted when he talked of Earth and humans, it was nothing on how he spoke Kivar's name. Loathing would be a good word to describe it, absolute hatred would be another._

Kind of like from her flash.

_She took note of the thought, storing it for later as she reached one of the doorways. She studied the darkness carefully for a few long moments while Zan continued to mumble to himself in the background._

"_Hey, Zan?" She called over her shoulder, turning her head to look and make sure she'd caught his attention before continuing. "Is the doorway supposed to look like this?"_

_He moved with rolling grace, so fluid and catlike she took a step back away from him before she could stop herself, not that he noticed or even cared. His entire attention was on the doorway._

"_No," he finally replied, reaching out to touch the darkness. "It shouldn't – "_

_Whatever he was going to end that sentence with was cut off when his fingers made contact with the darkness._

_He went flying one way, Liz went flying another._

_Eyes closed and body braced for impact…_

* * *

She hit the bed, eyes jerking wide open and breath escaping in a harsh cry as she took huge gulping breaths, hands flailing until Elsie grabbed them and pressed them down to her sides.

"Thank fucking God," she snarled, struggling to hold the squirming girl still, her relief at Liz's return to consciousness obvious in her expression.

"Elsie?" Liz's struggles faded as she squinted up at the other girl, her expression confused as she twisted to take in their surroundings.

"The nurses office?" The unspoken question hung between them for only a moment.

"You passed out in the middle of the hall," Elsie stated, leaning back with arms crossed as she took a seat in the only chair available. "You've been completely out of it for almost fifteen minutes. What the hell happened? What did you see?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Liz replied, reaching up and rubbing her face before letting one arm rest over her eyes as she struggled to come up with an explanation that wouldn't make her seem complete crazy.

"I think I had a vision," she stated finally, lifting her arm slightly so she could peer out at Elsie with one eye. "Of a man."

Elsie's eyebrows arched. "Was he naked?"

Liz's lips quirked up in an involuntarily grin, an amused snort emerging before she could stop it, eliciting a wince as the sound reverberated through her aching skull.

"Fortunately, no. He was tall, though."

"Handsome?"

_No, pretty._

Liz clamped her jaw shut, shaking her head in response to Elsie's prompt.

"What did he do?"

"Nothing," Liz replied after a moments thought. "Except ask me about his wife."

"Anybody we know?" Liz shook her head.

"Not unless the names Ava and Zan are familiar."

Elsie frowned for a moment as she thought that one over.

"No, there's no Ava's. At least, not yet. Doesn't mean it isn't important. Write it down and I'll get it to Carmen as soon as possible."

"I don't think…" Liz trailed off as Elsie shot her a curious look from where she stood near the doorway.

"What?"

"Nevermind," Liz sighed, letting her arm fall away from her head as she blinked at her friend. "Where are you going?"

"Your parents are going to be here in a few minutes," Elsie answered, hand on the doorknob. "And I'm late for class."

"Okay?" Liz watched Elsie go, confused at the normally cheerful girls slightly off reactions but letting it slide as her parents arrived in short order to take her home and sleep.

And with any luck, she wouldn't dream.

* * *

"_It's not a dream." Zan's voice was an unwelcome greeting as she slipped from one consciousness to the next._

"_Great, you again." Liz sighed, sitting down and leaning back against the wall as she gave Zan a quick perusal._

_He was crouched against the wall, his butt practically touching his heels as he leaned back, his forearms resting on his thighs as his hands dangled on the insides of his legs and his expression was so fucking haunted it had her straightening in concern._

"_You look like shit," was all she said even as she pushed herself off the wall, crawling forward a few feet until she was kneeling in front of him. "What happened?"_

"_It's not a dream," he repeated, his tone almost as heartbroken as his gaze as he raised it to look at her._

"_If it's not a dream, then what is it?" She asked finally when it became apparent he wasn't going to say anymore._

_He let out a harsh, humorless bark of laughter, eyes closing as he let his head fall back against the wall._

"_A memory," he breathed, almost choking on the word. There was shiny tracks on cheeks and it took her a second to recognize them for what they were – tears._

"_A memory of what?" she prompted, her hand drifting upward in slow motion as she feathered her fingers across his cheekbones, enraptured with no conscious reason why at the sight and texture of his skin and that moisture beneath her fingers._

_He flinched slightly at the contact, but kept his eyes closed and didn't move any further as he answered._

"_The end," he replied in a misery soaked voice. "My end, our end. We die."_

"_Who's we?" Liz let her hand fall to her side, leaning back slightly as Zan opened his eyes and peered across at her._

"_My sister, my best friend, my wife…me. And so many others. We all die."_

"_Why?" Liz was genuinely curious, his misery calling to her and cracking against her heart until all she wanted to do was make it go away._

"_Kivar," he did choke on that word, spitting out with such vehemence Liz flinched. "He wanted Antar, he wanted the Granolith and its secrets."_

"_And you had them?" Liz asked._

"_I was entrusted with them," Zan replied, watching her with sad eyes. "But they were never truly mine to begin with."_

"_And Kivar? Were they his?" Zan's lip curled upwards._

"_Nothing was ever Kivar's. He was an accident of birth, a fluke. He never should have existed."_

_The was a certainty to those words that had Liz hesitating on her next question._

"_What are you doing here?" Zan asked, interrupting her thoughts and causing her to blink at him._

"_I fell asleep," she replied without thinking. "And I woke up here."_

_Zan snorted at that._

"_Humans," he repeated his earlier insult, but it lacked the same heat. "You can't even figure out how to dream properly."_

"_Excuse me," Liz scoffed, scowling over at him. "But this is hardly my fault."_

"_Please," Zan snorted again. "Children of my peoples know how to direct better than you."_

"_Direct?" Liz furrowed her brow in confusion. "Huh?"_

_Zan sighed._

"_I'm too tired to explain it right now," he answered instead. "Come back tomorrow."_

"_What?" But he waved his hand and between one second and the next, there was only darkness._

_But at least she wasn't dreaming._

A/N: I didn't realize I could make Zan so…interesting. He's a bit of an asshole, though, don't you think?

Reviews, please!


	5. Chapter 04

Chapter 04: Aliens and Lies

"Get up." Elsie's voice drew her out of a restless sleep and she blinked bleary eyes up at the long-haired blonde.

"Huh?" Elsie let out an annoyed sigh, rolling her eyes as she grabbed Liz's leg and gave it a rough shake.

"Up!" She demanded, tossing a pair of sweatpants and a tank top at Liz's head with her other hand. "We're going running."

"Screw you," Liz croaked, but without any real heat as she tried to roll over and go back to sleep, only to find herself unceremoniously dumped from the bed as the other girl lifted her mattress and sent her tumbling to the floor.

"Up!" Elsie snapped again.

* * *

Working out in the morning was a horrible way to begin the day.

"Good morning!" Sonny chirped cheerfully as Liz came stumbling out the backdoor of the Crashdown with Elsie hot on her heels.

"God," was all Liz said, fighting the urge to grimace in the face of such obvious cheerfulness.

"Tone down the perky-meter, Son," Elsie instructed as she stretched, indicating for Liz and Sonny to do the same. "It's a little too early for your brand of cheer."

"Okey-dokey," Sonny agreed with a smile and promptly began humming under her breath. Liz jerked her gaze over to Elsie who smiled and shrugged her shoulders in a classic 'Hey-what-can-you-do?' gesture, coaxing a reluctant smile from the moody brunette.

"Five miles," Elsie instructed once they got back to their feet. "Meet up at the Old Mill outside of town and we'll do some basic self-defense."

"Katas?" Liz asked, hoping desperately that that was it. Elsie shot her a knowing look as she stretched out her arms.

"Spells," she shot back dryly. "Yours definitely need some work."

It was a hit at yesterday's disappearing door act and Liz flushed, ducking her head, suitably embarrassed by the whole debacle.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Duck!"

She was so sweet to look at, so kind and nice…until you saw this side of her.

"Slave driver," Liz panted, rolling up from the ground as she turned to keep a careful eye on the other girl.

She was on her own here – Sonny was stuck to the wall, literally, and Liz was too busy trying not to get her head blown off to rescue the blonde. So instead she was doing her best to be one hell of a distraction while Sonny got herself unglued.

The training session was two days late, delayed first by the shooting and then by the visions and headaches, the latter of which had yet to fully dissipate.

She'd asked Sonny about it earlier, earning her a bit of a curious look in response.

"Headaches caused by visions usually go away within a day," Sonny had told her, sounding vaguely puzzled. "Does your head still hurt?"

Liz had made a noncommittal noise in response, ducking her head down and speeding up to avoid having to answer any other questions.

"Move!" The yell came just in time, with Liz throwing herself to the side and rolling as a great big energy ball kicked up one hell of a dust storm exactly where she'd just been standing.

"Damnit, Liz!" Elsie the nice girl was gone, replaced by Elsie the Protector who was clearly Not Happy.

"Where the hell is your head today?"

"Up in space," Liz muttered under her breath, snorting at the irony of it.

"This isn't something to joke about, Liz," Elise all but snarled, pacing in front of the other girl. "In real life, you'd be dead by now and so would Sonny. Get your head in the freakin' already!"

"Fine!" Liz shouted, wincing as the sound reverberated in her skull, shooting Elsie one hell of a nasty look as she bent over, one hand pressed against her temple and she sucked in air.

"Fine," Liz replied, straightening and glaring as her fists curled into claws at her side.

"You in the game?" Elsie asked, her snarling tone replaced by pure cold expectation.

"Yes." Liz replied, turning to stare the Protector dead in the eye.

Elsie said nothing for a few moments, merely content to stand and study the other girl before finally giving one decisive nod.

"Good. Let's try this again."

* * *

Sore and achy and just feeling like shit all around, Liz trudged through her diner shift, barely mustering up the energy to feel annoyed when Michael Guerin came in about halfway through, plopping his blonde ass down at one of her booths and refusing to leave.

"Look," she finally gave up ignoring him, trying for the direct approach as she leaned over real close. "I'm tired, I've had a shitty day, I currently have the headache from hell and I know you have a shitload of questions to ask me, but could you please not bother me today?"

Michael met her gaze dead on for a long silent moment before smiling in _the _most annoying manner ever.

"I'll have a cherry coke, please."

"Right," Liz sighed, her chin dropping to touch her chest. "It's too much to ask that I meet one person today who does not annoy me."

"With Tabasco sauce." Michael continued on with that same damn irritating smile as he held up the empty bottle at the table. "This one's out."

"It'll be a minute," Liz replied dryly, pushing away from the booth and trudging towards the back.

"What's with Guerin?" Maria asked the second Liz was within talking distance.

"Don't know," Liz replied, reaching for a clean glass and spending several long moments contemplating spitting in it before, with a sigh, she settled for filling it with ice and cherry coke.

"He's been sitting in your section for the past three hours," Maria pointed out with a faint frown. "Don't you find that a little bit suspicious?"

Liz sighed, letting the nearly full glass thunk onto the counter as she turned her head to look at her friend.

"Maria, I do not now, nor have I ever, really given a damn about what Michael Guerin does and why he does. Don't ask me what he's doing here because I honestly have no idea."

That said, Liz grabbed the cup and a straw and all but stomped over to where Michael was sitting.

"Here," Liz grunted, thrusting the drink towards him and just barely keeping it from sloshing over onto his lap.

"Great service," Michael commented, waving a hand over the spillover, making it disappear right before her very eyes.

"Hey," Liz scowled, kicking his shin under the table as she glared. "Don't freakin' do that here. You're trying to be low key, remember?"

"Low key about what, Miss Parker?"

It was a testament to just how on edge that she was the Liz didn't just yelp.

She jumped two feet up and over and let out a startled scream as she jerked around, falling back into the booth and landing right on top of Michael, who looked equal parts startled at her reaction and his lapful.

"Liz!" Maria was there in a heartbeat, hovering in a manner only a best friend could hover while Liz struggled to regain control of her breathing, involuntarily clutching at Michael's arm in support.

"Sheriff," Michael greeted, expression tight as one hand rested carefully over Liz's abdomen, the other flat on the tabletop.

"Mr. Guerin," Valenti greeted the younger boy with twisted lips, hard expression softening slightly as he refocused on Liz.

"I'm sorry Miss Parker. I didn't mean to startle you. I just couldn't help but overhear your conversation."

"You eavesdrop on private conversations now?" Maria snapped out, stress making her forget all semblance of good manners as she glared at the older man. Valenti surprised all of them by smiling.

"It's sort of part of the job, Miss Deluca." Maria's loud snort made her opinion on that abundantly clear.

"What are two trying to be low key about?"

_Well, you see Sheriff, the thing is, Michael here? He's an alien. And me? Well, I may look normal, but I'm actual a witch the power to heal and a three hundred year old curse dogging my heels and threatening everyone I care about. _

"Uh," was what she said instead, gripping tightly at the arm wrapped around her waist for support.

Michael said nothing.

"Liz," Maria started.

"We're dating," Liz exclaimed in one rushed breath, her eyes widening slightly even as the words left her mouth.

"Michael and me," she continued on, digging her grave all the deeper. "We're dating as in boyfriend and girlfriend dating."

"Really?" Valenti made it abundantly clear that he wasn't buying it and Liz tried to relax back into Michael, but he was tense as hell and it was like trying to get comfortable lying on top of a two-by-four.

"Really." Liz did her best to smile in a loving manner, just barely managing to keep her urge to wince in check when Michael merely looked at her like she was from another planet in reply.

"Liz!" Maria yelped out, eyes wide and expression scandalized as she gaped at the two of them with faint disgust. "Guerin? Seriously?"

"Yes," Liz gave her best friend a tight lipped smile as she fixed her gaze on the Sheriff.

"Is there anything else you want, Sheriff?"

"No ma'am," Valenti replied, tipping his head as he smiled at the two of them. "You two lovebirds have a nice day now."

"Thank you, Sir," Michael spoke for the first time, giving Liz's waist an extra hard squeeze. "Will do."

Liz watched the Sheriff leave, thunking her head back against Michael's shoulder with a tired sigh.

"Liz!" Maria snapped again, her expression practically livid as Liz held up a hand to stop her.

"I'm sick, I'm tired, and I have to go throw-up now," Liz told her best friend as she pushed off of Michael and got to her feet, swaying only slightly as she grimaced around the pounding in her skull.

"Excuse me."

That said, she headed for the bathroom to do exactly as she said she would.

* * *

"This isn't normal," Elsie was saying somewhere above her.

It was the worry in her tone that had Liz pulling the pillow off her head and braving the sunlight to squint at the Protector.

"What's normal?" She asked, shooting for philosophical and coming out on the slightly bitchy side of the equation.

"Not this," Elsie replied, placing a cool hand against Liz's sweaty forehead. "You're burning up."

"I feel like shit," Liz replied, yanking the pillow back down over her head.

"You look like shit," Elsie agreed before turning to address Sonny. "We should call Carmen."

"No," Liz was shaking her head underneath the pillow. "Not yet."

"Yet?" Elsie pulled the pillow up slightly so she was staring down at Liz. "Honey, you're practically on fire. That isn't normal for anybody. Add in the fact that you're a natural born healer and shouldn't be getting sick in the first place, and something is really wrong with you."

"Not wrong," Liz muttered, a familiar touch brushing against her mind as she felt the achingly longed for touch of sleep on her eyelids. "Just not right."

"Well," she heard Elsie say somewhere in the fog above her, her voice fading. "That helps."

And then she was asleep once more.

* * *

"_You're dying."_

"_Gee," Liz crossed her arms and glared at the alien across from her. "You really know how to make a girl feel special."_

_Zan scowled at her._

"_You're dying because you're not even trying to gain control over your abilities."_

"_What abilities?" Liz replied, hands thrusting in the air with exasperation. "I don't have 'abilities'. I have _one _ability. I heal people – that's it."_

"_You healed somebody different," Zan stated. "Somebody unlike anybody you've ever encountered before."_

_Liz remained silent on that one._

"_It didn't feel like any other healing and it drained you to the point of near death."_

"_Near unconsciousness," Liz corrected automatically._

"_Death," Zan replied with a headshake. "You wouldn't be here unless it was true."_

"_Unless I was dying?" Liz blinked at him. "I'm _dying_?"_

_She choked at the realization, crouching over in an hysterical wheeze while Zan watched her impassively on the other side of the room._

"_You can save yourself easily enough," Zan stated, not without compassion, but firmly enough that Liz found herself a little annoyed. Which was great, because annoyance was better than hysterics._

"_Just tell me one thing – if I die, do I take you with me? Cause then it'd almost be worth it."_

"_I exist outside the realms of your mind," Zan retorted dryly. "Nothing you do can kill me."_

"_Damn," Liz straightened, still shivering slightly as she regarded the other man cautiously._

"_Do you want to die?" Zan asked, his words genuinely curious._

"_Not particularly," was Liz's slightly sarcastic reply._

"_Then you need to listen," Zan stepped forward until he was directly in front of her._

"_I can only do this for you for so long," Zan informed her, his hands coming up to rest on either side of her head._

"_Do what?" Liz asked, her eyes rolling as she stared at the hovering appendages before fixating on Zan's face._

"_Direct for you," Zan replied, the heat of his hands getting hotter._

"_You've said that word before," Liz swallowed dryly. "But what does it mean?"_

"_When our children are young," Zan answered, his eyes on his hands as he spoke. "They can't focus their powers so their parents do it for them until they can be taught to do it for themselves."_

"_Oh." Liz was silent for a moment as she mulled this over, a faint frown forming. "But I still don't get it. I mean, I only have one pow – "_

_Whatever she was going to say next was cut off by a searing pain that reverberated through her skull and sent her into a screaming convulsion._

"_Let me in," Zan whispered above her, visible beads of sweat forming on his skin and dripping down his face. "Liz, you have to let me in."_

"_I can't," Liz sobbed out, clutching his hands as her only support, her legs threatening to buckle in the face of that white light._

"_Yes you can," Zan snapped. "You're stronger than you look," he continued on. "And you're a fighter. Don't you dare give up now. Drop your shields."_

_Liz had no real idea what he was talking about, but it hurt so bad and he was so sure he could make it go away, that she reached out with that energy in the soul of her mind and grabbed at him, mentally yanking him forward._

_And then he was there, in her head. The dam erecting itself, diverting a cool blue stream of energy she'd never seen before away from her own energy, pulling it to him until with a snap, it became nothing more than a faint trickle._

_And the pain disappeared, leaving her panting while Zan went stumbling back, away from her, his own breathing uneven._

"_You have to learn to Direct yourself," Zan heaved, panting harshly between each word. "I can only hold it for so long."_

"_How?" Liz hunched over, hands on knees and head tilted back slightly as she stared him._

"_How do I do it myself?"_

"_Focus," Zan replied, taking a deep breath and straightening with a slight wince._

"_You have to maintain your focus. See the power and control it."_

"_The blue light?" Liz panted. "That's the power?"_

"_Yes," Zan breathed evenly now. _

"_Was it always there?" Liz asked, genuinely curious. Had she always had another power, or was it something that was a result of Max Evans?_

"_The potential was always there," was Zan's oh-so-helpful reply._

"_You have to go now," Zan stated abruptly, interrupting Liz's silent bitchfest at his lack of forthcoming useful information._

"_What? Why?"_

"_It takes energy to maintain this place," Zan replied. "And energy to Direct your power. You can't come back here until you've managed to do that on your own."_

"_Otherwise?"_

_Zan gave her a grim look._

"_Otherwise you'll die."_

* * *

Liz woke up to find Sonny curled against her side and Elsie sleeping uncomfortably on the lounge outside her window.

She debated for a few seconds whether or not to wake them up and let them know she was okay, but both of them looked so exhausted, she decided not to.

Rolling over onto her side, she closed her eyes and sighed.

She was halfway to normal sleep when a faint memory from earlier had her snapping awake with horror.

"Oh God," she breathed, staring up at the ceiling with wide-eyes and a dropped jaw.

She'd told the Sheriff she and Michael Guerin were dating.

"Oh _God_!"

A/N: It's been a busy week writing wise. Hope you enjoy my latest offering! And if you get a free minute, check out my other two crossovers – Another World and Blue. You might find them interesting.


	6. Chapter 05

Chapter 05:

"We need to talk."

Those were rapidly becoming the four most hated words in Liz's vocabulary, followed almost as closely by "I'm calling Carmen."

She was only half surprised to turn around and discover that Michael Guerin was standing behind her, but the other half of her surprise came from the addition of Max and Isabel Evans.

"Wow," she stated, surveying the three of them with wide eyes. "You guys are really quiet."

"Why did you tell the Sheriff we were dating?" Judging from the lack of reaction on the other two's parts, Michael had already shared this little gem with his fellow space-people.

Unfortunately, Liz had yet to let that little cat out of the bag.

"Shhh!" She hissed, glaring at him as she turned her head side to side, trying to see if anyone had heard. "Are you trying to get me in trouble?"

Elsie had no idea about this lovely little white lie and even though Maria knew, Liz had made her swear an unbreakable swear that she wouldn't tell anybody and even though Miss Maria "Big Mouth" Deluca loved to talk, she'd never broken a swear before.

"What's going on, Liz?" Max was direct and to the point and Liz definitely admired that quality in most people…when they weren't directing that point at her.

"One break," she asked God, eyes pointed skyward as she glared at the almighty. "Just one. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Parker," Michael interrupted, drawing her attention back to the earthly realms. "Talk."

"Not here," Liz replied, wanting desperately to rip her hair out in frustration.

_We need to talk, we need to talk, we need to talk._

God, _my kingdom for a mute._

"Today," Michael promised as the warning bell rang.

"The rock quarry," Isabel supplied. "After school."

"Fine." Liz replied, frowning slightly as she turned to go only to turn back. "What's your stake in all this, anyway? I mean, Max I get and Michael, but you?"

Isabel pulled the ice princess look, the one that had lesser mortals quivering in their shoes. But Liz dealt with Carmen on a regular basis and nothing could top Carmen's frost giant.

But Isabel came pretty damn close.

"He's my brother. You did something to him. I want to know what."

"I didn't do anything; I saved his life."

"Did you?" She disappeared into the crowd, taking Max with her, and leaving Liz standing there feeling, of all things, annoyed.

"Hello, bleeding bullet wound," she muttered under her breath, turning to go only to have Michael grab her arm, stopping her in place.

"Yes?" She questioned, blinking up at him, both confused and annoyed now. "Can I help you with something?"

"Valenti," Michael replied, causing Liz to cock her head to the side as she squinted at him, trying to follow his thought process and failing miserably.

"Yes?" She finally ventured, feeling annoyed as obvious irritation flashed across Michael's face.

"Here, now, over there," Michael replied in clipped tones and Liz turned her head, following his line of sight and catching just the briefest of glimpses of the man before she got the second greatest shock of her life.

One second she was staring at the sunglass-wearing Roswell county Sheriff, the next…

She'd never been kissed before. She'd been too into studying and barely into boys when Carmen had found her and later too busy and too worried to do more than sigh wistfully as she watched the happy couples venture in and out of the Crashdown.

She'd imagined what her first kiss would be like – soft lighting, slow music, possibly roses and sparkling cider…

The guy changed, but the situation was always the same. And she had never, ever, not once, pictured Michael Guerin as _that_ guy.

But he was _that _guy and there were no roses or flowers of any kind and though the lighting did suck in the school, the sound of the late bell ringing was nowhere close to music to her ears.

His lips were soft, though, surprisingly warm, and they felt…

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest, her eyes, wide with surprise, stared directly into his and for a second she could have sworn she saw a hint of worry in their depths, as if Michael Guerin was worried she wouldn't like him kissing her, before his gaze traveled upward and he pulled back with a smooth detachment, his eyes focused behind her.

"He's gone," he stated, face smoothing back into a rough expression of disinterest as he gazed down at her. "You can go now."

Staring up at the boy who had just given her her first kiss and feeling her heart beat unevenly in her chest, Liz was annoyed, primarily with herself but there was a very real level of irritation with the boy across from her.

"Fuck." She finally settled on, shaking her head and stepping around him as she headed for her first class and possibly a detention.

In her view, that one word summed up the entire situation quite nicely.

* * *

"You were late," Sonny whispered from her position next to her in Geometry. "Why were you late? You're never late."

"I overslept," Liz replied as she frowned down at the math problem in front of her.

"Proofs," she muttered under her breath. "Who in the hell came up with proofs?"

Whoever they were, they deserved to be drawn, quartered, and shot just for the heck of it.

And maybe blown up…

"Liz," Sonny hissed, poking her in the side. "Come on – this is me. You can tell me what happened."

Liz glanced at Sonny, took in the sweet and trusting face of one of her best friends and debated for about five seconds whether or not to tell her.

"I was making out with Michael Guerin in the hallway," she finally stated, flipping the page in her book and scowling at yet another proof.

"Fucking evil," she decided, raising her pencil and gritting her teeth as she started taking notes. After a few seconds of this, though, her attention was caught by the weird noise next to her.

Glancing up, it took her a second to recognize that noise – silence.

Sonny – who had an opinion on just about everything and enough energy to make it continuously known – was dead silent.

"What?" Liz asked as she blond just sat there and stared at her. "Is it something I said?"

The joke fell flat as the bell rang and Sonny gathered her things without a word, walking out the door before Liz could even shut her book.

"Sonny! Sonny!" Liz made it into the hall but the blonde had already disappeared.

"_Fuck._"

She was so going to tell Elise.

* * *

Liz was on pins and needles and by the end of the day she was so tense she was actually looking forward to the confrontation with the three amigos because it sure beat the hell out of the total ass-chewing she was going to get from the Protector at home.

Getting to the quarry took a little finagling – she didn't have a car and public transportation only went so far, so she was stuck walking the last two miles or so until a cloud of dust came to a screeching halt next to her.

"Get in."

Max Evans sat in the front with Michael next to him and Isabel in the back. Given everything that was going on with her and the guys, Liz was almost relieved to be sitting next to the girl until the girl shot her the dirtiest look this side of the solar system.

_Wonderful, _she thought, crossing her arms and scrunching back in the seat.

Five minutes in a car with Isabel Evans and she was already longingly wishing she was back home with Elise.

* * *

"Explain."

It beat "We need to talk" but…

"Okay, rude much?" Liz had developed quite an attitude thanks to Carmen and also, thanks to Carmen, quite a backbone, which she was relying heavily upon now as she crossed her arms and glared up at Max Evans.

"Explain, please," Max elaborated, looking absolutely annoyed.

"Explain what?" Liz asked.

"Are you serious?" Isabel snapped back. "I can't believe you – after everything that happened and you're standing here making jokes?"

"Excuse me, Princess, but there are degrees of explanations here and I ain't the only one who needs to start talking, so step off your high horse and shut the hell up. This doesn't even concern you."

"He's my brother," Isabel replied coldly.

"Is he?" Liz asked, arms still crossed as she stared narrow-eyed at the blond.

"Yes."

And he was, she could feel that much. Both here and now and then.

But then was different from now…and she wasn't sure then was any of her business.

Wasn't sure she wanted _then_ to be any of her business.

"Fine, whatever," Liz conceded, a nagging feeling drawing at the back of her mind. That was a faint pulse, either of pain or a quiet reminder of something, but she shook her head, pushing it aside to refocus on the situation at hand.

"What do you want to know?"

"How did you heal Max?" Michael asked.

"With my powers." Liz replied in clipped tones.

"What powers?" Isabel asked next.

"The ones I was born with," Liz replied, truth to a certain extent. She'd always had the potential to become what she was, but the actuality of it hadn't happened until someone had died.

"Were you?"

"Was I what?" Liz was confused by this question as she cocked her head to the side and stared at Michael, brow furrowed.

"Born with them?"

"Do you mean was I born or was I created?" Liz replied, hitting the nail right on the head with the way Michael and the others almost flinched at the question.

"Born," Liz replied, taking momentary pity. "Fully human."

"So where did you get the powers from?" Isabel took her turn to ask a question and of all the questions so far it was the one Liz was looking forward to the least.

There were so many possible ways to explain this, but Liz decided to go for the most straightforward of them all.

"Magic."

Dead silence. Liz had a front row seat to the lovely view of three speechless aliens, but the speechless part only lasted long enough for Michael to narrow his eyes in calculation, Max to blink once, and Isabel to snarl.

It was a truly impressive snarl, too. It could give Carmen a real run for her money.

"I can't believe you!" Isabel snapped, fingers twitching ever so slightly as she experienced what was undoubtedly a very strong urge to attempt manual strangulation on the petite brunette across from her. "Here we are trying to be serious and you're treating this whole thing like a giant joke!"

"Who said I was joking?" There were many different ways to say that single sentence – sarcastic, joking, with a hint of wit – but Liz's tone was bluntly serious as she stared directly back at them.

"So, what, you're a witch?" Max wasn't usually the type to add extra words to a sentence, so Liz took the 'what' as a sign that the King of Cool was not nearly as cool as he appeared.

"Yep." She replied. "And you're an alien. And now that we have all that out in the open, I have to get home before Maria starts looking for me."

"What is she, your babysitter?"

"No, but she's not a fan of you."

"And I should care, why?" There was a muscle at the corner of Michael Guerin's jaw that was twitching every so slightly and Liz found it quite interesting to watch as she made her reply.

"Because she essentially hates you and therefore can't stand the thought of us dating and will go to any lengths to break us up."

"But we're not really dating."

"I dare you to tell her that," Liz replied, half-serious. If Michael could muster up the words it was one less headache she'd have to deal with in the end.

Course, by now, Sonny would have told Elsie and Elsie would be out for her blood…

_Uh, oh._

A new and disturbing thought broke through, making her curse her own stupidity even as she turned to face the quarry entrance, a chill of unease making its way down her spine.

"What is it?" Michael was probably the most perceptive one of the bunch – a trait which she found herself admiring immensely especially since the other two seemed to understand that the boy had a nose for threats.

"Uh," was all she could really manage to say. See, it was kind of difficult explaining something like this out loud. 'You see, not only am I witch, but I'm a member of a coven that has been cursed to attract ghosties and demons like no tomorrow thanks to some nitwit three hundred or so years ago. Oh, and Elsie and Sonny are witches, too. And Carmen.'

They'd probably believe the thing about Carmen, but Elsie? And the brighter than sunshine Sonny?

Oh, and the two of them were probably hijacking somebody's ride right now so they could track her down and rip her a new one.

A cloud of dust in the distance gave sickening truth to her prediction and she took an involuntary step back, bumping into Michael who'd taken an instinctive step forward.

"Who's that?" He asked, one hand coming to rest on her shoulder, preventing her from turning around and leaving her with the only option of tilting her head back if she wanted to be able to see his face when she was talking to him.

"Um," at least it was different from 'uh'.

"Friends?" She ventured carefully as Maria's familiar Jetta pulled into view. "I think."

At this point there was a fifty-fifty change that whoever got out of the vehicle would be friend or foe. The problem was the friend and foe wore the same face so it was kind of hard to differentiate at times.

"Elizabeth!" Elsie was the first to emerge from the vehicle before it'd even come to a full and complete stop, expression livid as she rounded in on the other girl. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Standing," came her immediate smartass reply. "Listening to you."

It was like she'd never spoken.

"I mean, I can't believe it – I thought Sonny was joking but when Maria told me it was true…Michael Guerin?"

"Hey!" Isabel protested at the disbelieving disgust in Elsie's tone. "What's wrong with Michael?"

But there was a note of insincerity and a distinctive impression that Isabel understood all too well what was wrong with Michael that had everybody staring at her in disbelief.

"Okay, so I know what's wrong with Michael, but that doesn't mean you get to be rude about it."

"Gee, thanks," was Michael's dry contribution. "Your support is extremely touching."

"Whatever," Maria broke in, scowling at the other boy before turning her attention to Liz. "I can't believe you were sneaking out here to see him without telling me. I'm your best friend, Liz!"

"Okay? So I should invite you along on our dates?" This conversation – this whole situation – was borderline ridiculous seeing that her and Michael weren't really dating, but it was getting a little too late to pour the water on the fire now so Liz was just gonna have to wait for this thing to burn out.

"Why not?" Maria snapped back, really peeved. "You invited those two!"

Maria gestured at the Evans siblings, staring at them for a moment, her angry rant giving way to angry puzzlement as she blinked and looked back at Liz.

"Why did you invite those two?"

"Voyeurism," Liz replied, starting to get annoyed. "I just love an audience."

Michael snorted at that one, but he seemed to be the only one who found any humor in the situation other than herself.

"Come on," Elsie broke back into the conversation, reaching out and grabbing Liz's arm to tug her forward only to jerk up short when Michael refused to relinquish his grip on her shoulder.

"Liz," Elsie warned and there was a command there, a power behind it that had Liz gritting her teeth and scowling but reluctantly moving forward.

"You're witches, too."

Of all the things Michael Guerin could have said, he had to have picked _that one._

"You just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?"


End file.
